Climate Smart Forestry in the Southern United States

Abstract

In the United States, Climate Smart Forestry (CSF) has quickly become a popular topic within the academic, political, and industry realms, without substantial delineation of what exactly CSF is. In this review, the aim is to provide a broad overview of CSF by highlighting one of the most productive and prolific forest systems in the United States, loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) plantations. One major objective of CSF is to increase forest carbon storage to combat rising atmospheric carbon or climate change mitigation. Fortuitously, increased forest carbon storage can work harmoniously with on-going Southern pine plantation forestry. With a Southern commercial focus, we show (1) traditional plantation practices such as genetic improvement, site preparation, weed control, and fertilization have aided increased forest carbon storage; (2) forest products and forest product carbon are essential to increase carbon storage beyond the stand-carbon baseline; (3) forest carbon data collection must be improved to realize climate change mitigation goals; and (4) additional avenues for future CSF research.

Guidelines for effective climate smart forestry

“…It is noteworthy that the first objective, climate change mitigation, could mesh well with ongoing U.S. forestry practices [1]-especially since mitigation potential could be underestimated [2]. For example, due to predominately temperate growing conditions within the U.S. and tremendous productivity gains in working forests since the 1960s [1], increased natural, urban, and planation forest productivity could represent 55% (181 Tg C yr −1 ) of natural climate mitigation (i.e. 45% agriculture and grassland storage [3]).…”

“…Since early 2021 in the United States, climate smart forestry (CSF) has become a popular term and a growing field [1], but few peer-reviewed articles have recognized or discussed CSF nuances. Broadly, CSF is a strategy to combat climate change effects with ongoing and innovative forestry practices.…”

“…Broadly, CSF is a strategy to combat climate change effects with ongoing and innovative forestry practices. Some, like Shephard et al [1], recognize CSF as forest management that accomplishes the following objectives:…”

“…However, the combination of CSF popularity, simple mitigation tactics (e.g. increased productivity) [1], and limited academic CSF discussion has led to concern that CSF policy has become too carbon-centric [4]; CSF has become too focused on items like carbon credits and tree planting. We have two goals for this article: (1) spur discussion among stakeholders (academics, landowners, investors, etc) on how climate mitigation can be achieved with the help of production-focused forestry; (2) demonstrate how CSF needs to be refined and further researched to achieve successful climate change mitigation.…”

“…(2) carbon tunnel vision; (3) investment disparity; (4) investment incentives. This is not an exhaustive list of strategies towards effective CSF, rather, mitigationfocused items others have brought attention to from extensive literature review [1].…”